By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A jewelery store owner convicted of staging a fake heist on his own store was hit with new allegations that he also suggested bribing the judge who will sentence him and his partner in crime, the New York Post reported.
Mahaveer Kankariya, 44, who along with his business partner Atul Shah, 49, was found guilty last week of hiring men to dress as Hassidic Jews and pretend to rob their West 46th Street store in 2008, allegedly asked his bail bondsman if he could bribe Judge Thomas Farber, the Post reported.
"Is there any way I can bribe the judge?" Kankariya asked his Empire Bail Bondsman, Luis Onativia, the Post reported.
Onativia promptly returned Kankariya and Shah to custody, though Shah had not made similar overtures, according to the paper.
A native of India, Kankariya said he was simply asking a question that would be legitimate in his home country, the paper reported.
"This is an unfortunate situation in which a clash of cultures between the United States and India misled Mr. Kankariya, and he is regretful and remorseful for that," Michael Bachner, his attorney, told the Post.
Kankariya and Shah face up to 15 years in prison for their plan to scam $7 million in insurance money to keep their business, Dialite Imports, afloat.
Their conviction hinged on surveillance footage obtained from a security camera that the two business partners had attempted to destroy with industrial bleach.
